Starting with Literacy, I believe I have achieved this goal really well. I have constantly put this as one of my goals, but now I feel that I have achieved it. This is simply because I tend to write different texts for my 100wc, and I even started to include some facts. There are also times at home when I would think of an idea for a piece of writing, but normally make it a narrative. Now I try to put the idea into a different type of text, and I make them different every time. For example, I could think of something very simple (on the 1st week of holidays I thought of a story about an asthmatic) but instead of making it a narrative, I chose to make it an instructional text of how to use the puffer (with my sister’s help). Sometimes I won’t finish the piece, but most of the time it’s because I don’t like the idea anymore or the genre doesn’t fit the type of text. Another way I know I have achieved this goal is that I am improving in my other types of text, especially poetry and persuasive text (which I use for debates). So I believe that since I have improved, practiced and now have a bigger interest in different types of writing, I feel that I have achieved the goal.

Next is maths, which has been the hardest goal so far. I do know how to multiply the 2 decimals, though I not very confident and I still can have trouble with the decimal point. I have been trying to achieve this goal in simple things like hotmaths and at home. Hotmaths is compulsory, and all I really do is try to answer the question that is shown. But at home, sometimes I will ask my mum for random numbers (most of the time she doesn’t know what I’m talking about) and put them into 2 decimals and try to solve the multiplication. After I’m sure with my answer, I will go onto the calculator and see whether its correct. I still get tripped up with the decimal point, and I’m still no very confident so I believe I can still improve in this goal.

My personal goal was to be more organised with my work, and I believe that has been the only goal I can say that I was already halfway there. I needed to improve on this goal, since I had a lot of books (from school and home activities) and I needed the right ones. Since I always have the right books for when I get to school to my classroom as well as completing my homework every week, I didn’t quite work on that part. I worked on being more organised in my book, so every time someone would need to look at a part, I could just point at it. Everyone uses sub headings for there book, but I used to still have to skim and scan. Now, I know the parts I will need to look at, so I make paragraphs or just on its own sentences, as well as putting astricts or stars next to it. I believe I have achieved this goal, though I will still remember to make the work inside my book as clear as possible (since there are days that I need to remind myself).

FUTURE GOALS:

I believe that I still need to work on my second goal about maths. I’m still not as confident as I hope I can be, as well as not understanding the multiplication some of the time. If I can continue with this goal till the end of the year, then I will become more confident and will not be confused about the decimals place. Also, since I haven’t completed my goal yet, I need to try to achieve it since it is a goal.

My second goal is new, and will be to work on my angles. I do know how angles work and I do know a bit about them, though the main things is I’m not confident. I do know most angles and what there are called (and their degree), but when it comes down to comparing which angles are which, I can often get confused. Therefore, if I work on this (which we will be doing in class), I feel that I will be more confident in myself, it will be less complicated to and I will solve the problem quicker. This will also make me more confident when helping other classmates in decimals, and I will have less fear that I am wrong (I still help classmates now, though I double check a lot before they believe they have the answer).

My last goal is to summarise more efficiently and to use summarising more often. Sometimes you need to get the point you’re saying across in as few words as possible, so that it’s easier to read and understand. This goal out of all 3 of mine is the one I have to work on the most, but will be the most rewarding for when I complete it (since I’m preparing for high school)

I will understand how 2 sudden geological changes (tsunamis and cyclones) or extreme weather conditions can affect Earth’s surface.

Unit Learning Goal 2: Science

I will with guidance, pose questions about tsunamis to clarify practical problems or inform a scientific investigation.

Unit Learning Goal 3: Science.

I will find out scientific knowledge that is used to inform personal and community decisions about tsunamis.

Unit Learning Goal 5: Reading and viewing

I will identify and explain how figures like tables, diagrams, maps and graphs add to our understanding of verbal information and factual pieces, as well as persuasive texts and figures from the media and digital texts.

Unit Learning Goal 6: Writing

I will plan, draft and publish a variety of informative pieces and persuasive texts, while choosing to experiment with the text structures, language features, images and digital resources (audio elements) that are relevant to the purpose and audience.

Personal Learning Goals: During this unit, I will . . .

Set myself time limits to complete parts of an assignment, so if there is any pressure I have, it won’t get too much for me.

Focus on taking notes on the main points of an informational /persuasive piece and can summarise those point as efficiently as possible.

This term our topic was chemistry (science). We learnt about the main 3 states of matter (solid, liquid and gas).

A solid is one of the main 3 states of matter. Its properties are that it has a defiant shape, it’s hard and it’s visible. Also, its particles are compact (liquids and gases don’t have compact particles because they don’t have a shape. Their particles vibrate and are in groups).

A liquid is another main state of matter.

A gas is the last main state of matter. Some of its properties are that’s its invisible, it doesn’t have a definite shape and it takes up all the space around us. The particles in gas bounce around and move at high speed. Also, the particles move around in a single direction until they hit another particle/object in the way (which results to the particle changing its course of direction).

There are also 2 other states of matter, plasma and Bose Einstein Condensate. We didn’t learn that much about them, but I can say that Bose Einstein Condensate was predicted by Albert Einstein and Satyendra Nath Bose (a physicist), and is when you cool down a temperature of an object to near absolute zero. And plasma is like a gas with a lot more energy added to it.

We learnt about how the 3 states of matter change state. When you change a solid to a liquid, you reduce heat/melt it to its melting point (so it can change to a liquid). When you change a solid to a gas, it’s called sublimation (when you change a solid to a gas without going through the liquid state of matter). Therefore, deposition is when a gas goes to a solid without going through the liquid state of matter. Then there’s gas to a liquid which is condensation (reduction in heat), and liquid to a gas (which is evaporation/vaporisation/boiling). Now there’s only one left, liquid to a solid. That change in state is called solidification/freezing (reduce heat).

We learnt about reversible and irreversible changes (melting and freezing are reversible, burning and rusting are irreversible), and how all the ways that the 3 states of matter changes are reversible. We found out about properties of solids (hard, visible, has its own shape), liquids (can be poured, changes shape, visible) and gases (invisible, fills the room, has no definite shape).

There was knowledge about physical and chemical changes, and how chemical changes are mostly irreversible (and that physical changes are reversible). We also learnt about the ways that you can tell when a chemical change has occurred:

A change in odour, a change in colour, a new substance is created, a different texture has been formed, taking in energy- heat has occurred, a formation or deconstruction of a substance happened and finally, if reduced energy- heat/light/sound happened.

And, we learnt the signs for a physical change:

Freezing

Melting

Boiling and Dissolving

Cutting

Moulding

The last thing we learnt about in this unit was atoms, molecules and particles. A molecule is made up of atoms. An atom is made up of protons, neutrons and electrons, which are technically in molecules to (since atoms make up molecules). When heat is applied to molecules, they spread out to create a gas. But when heat is reduced, the molecules squeeze together to create a solid or liquid.

Particles are in solids, liquids and gases. In liquids, the particles move around freely- they have weak bonds that keeps them close together (they slice past each other when they move). In gas, the particles bounce around and move at a high speed. The particles move in one direction until they hit another particle/object in the way, which then makes the particle change direction. And finally a solid, the particles in it vibrate but do not move past each other (they vibrate in groups and are compact).

What I have achieved:

During this semester, I believe I have achieved a good understanding on this unit and have achieved my goals. And, throughout the unit I have learnt a lot and understood all of the knowledge. If you don’t believe me, my biggest evidence is my introduction (which is based on a summary of the knowledge we got from this unit). It recalls the definitions of the 3 main states of matter (and the other 2 states of matter-though we didn’t learn about them a lot), how they change state (melting, freezing, evaporation etc.), the properties the 3 states of matter have, chemical and physical changes (and the signs they show), reversible or irreversible changes (includes how physical and chemical changes connect to it) and finally molecules, atoms and particles.

So, I believe I have achieved understanding my unit of work and receiving the knowledge that was given to me very well. As for my goals…

I feel that I have achieved my goals for this unit and have plenty of evidence why.

My first goal outlines if changes to materials can be reversible or irreversible, and has some examples of changes of states that are reversible or irreversible (melting, freezing, evaporation- reversible or burning and rusting- irreversible). To prove I achieved this goal, I can tell you that all the changes of state are reversible to a material. This is because of the simple fact that solids, liquids and gases can convert into each other, they can change state by the changes of state (freezing, melting, sublimation etc.).

My second goal summarized if I could decide which variable could change (and be measured) in fair test and precisely observe, measure and take data- using digital technologies when needed.

If you didn’t know, to prove that we understood the unit, our class (in partners) had to do a science experiment about our main goal (for our year level). The main goal for my grade was the 1st goal about reversible or irreversible changes, and my experiment was about which type of material was the most reversible and beneficial when recycling paper. I had to choose our variables and what I could do with them/what I could change.

At the start I decided the variables would be 3 plates, the same amount of water (100 ml) and 3 bowls. It turned out that one of our variables (3 plates) changed to 3 sieves. In the end, I observed and took data on what happened throughout the experiment and used digital technology when I needed it (timers). So, I think that I have achieved my goal very well, and my evidence is physically doing it.

My 3rd goal was to make and use a range of different representations to show and describe your data/observations or/and patterns or relationships in your data. There was also using digital technologies as appropriate and that you should include (as a representations) a graph or a table. In my science experiment, I had written up a science lab report which included a table and some pictures (which count as a representation). And, the pictures were taken by camera and I used Word Document to create the table. So, I used a range of different representations (table and pictures) to show and describe your data/observations, and I used digital technologies as appropriate (camera and computer). Which means that I have achieved my goal well.

My 4th goal was to use strategies to help me read and understand scientific texts that use tier 3 scientific language. This is one of the goals I thought would be the hardest to achieve, but it ended up being one of the easiest. This is because I needed to read and understand a lot of websites with tier 3 language so I could explain the science behind my experiment (for the discussion in my science lab report). The strategies I used were:

Guess and Check- replace words with what you think they are and see if they make sense in the context

Use a dictionary- with the words you don’t know, search them up

Go onto websites for kids- check if they have the same stuff and see whether it’s explained better on the website for kids- but find out the tier 3 language on the other website as well.

So, I sense that I have achieved my goal very well for I used a variety of different strategies to help me read and understand scientific texts that include tier 3 language.

My 5th and final goal: I can create scientific explanations and lab reports that follow a conventional outline and that clearly communicate my understanding. This goal is one of the goals I believe I nailed when looking over it. This is because, when I finished writing up my lab report, I made sure that all the tier 3 words were explained (so it could be easily understood and it would communicate my understanding). Also, I made sure that I had put in the essential features of my experiment in my lab report, to make sure it was purely based on my science experiment. Which concludes me to why I’m sure that I have achieved this goal.

In total, I have achieved all my goals as well as understanding and remembering all the knowledge that was given to me.

Ways I Can Improve:

Something I could have improved in this unit was my presentation for my experiment. I believe it wasn’t as good as it could have been, and there were some facts that could’ve been explained better (if I had chosen to expand on it). Also, if I had more facts on my PowerPoint it might have been better for the audience so they could see what we were talking about (and it could have been more engaging).

I could have also taken my observations a bit more effectively. Instead of doing every 5 minutes, I could have done every 10 or 20mins. Or I could have only include the 10-20mins in my lab report, rather than putting in some times that only a little bit happened (some of the 5min times were like that).

What I learnt About Science:

I learnt that when you do anything in science, you have to be extra careful. This is because you can ruin an experiment by the simplest of things, and there’s no short list to how many things can go wrong. You could forget something on the day, you might have the wrong equipment, and you might forget to record a piece of data! It can even include things like forgetting how much water you put in a glass for an experiment. It’s that easy to do make a mistake. Which is why scientist have to be very careful and very precise.

You need to be precise because you want to get the correct measurements and observations, so your experiment is correct and then you can show what actually happens. If you’re not exact, you will have to start all over again and double check everything (so you can get the exact result).

What I learnt about the way that I work:

I learnt that when I work, I always have to finish it in a certain time limit. I always end up trying to finish something by the end of class because I had gambled on in the first part. Which brings me to how I’ve learnt that I gamble on in my work. This has always been a thing I have to work on, but in this unit I have really noticed it. One example of this habit is this reflection! So, what I have learnt about my work habits is I always have to finish at a certain time and that I gamble on in my work (the 2nd habit is harder for me).

Goals in my report:

This unit has helped me with 2 of my goals for my semester: improving on thinking about thinking and speaking slower so people can understand me. For my discussion in my science lab report, I had to keep asking myself “Why does this happen?” to get myself deeper into the science. And since I was thinking about my thinking, it helped me get better at this goal.

Also, at the end of the term we had to do a presentation in front of the class. And I made sure that I was speaking at a reasonable speed and that everyone could understand me. Since I was practising that, I was practising my goal at the same time.

I would like to improve on thinking about thinking. Ways I could do this is when I walk to school, I’ll stop and look at things and try to think of how it works. I would like to learn how to innovate better. I could do this by every opportunity I can show off my work, I’ll be original when presenting it. Lastly I want to speak slower so people can understand me when I get excited. An easy way to do this is to stop and think and to calm myself down before I start talking.

My Reflection on Semester 1 goals:

I feel I have achieved my goals for this semester. I now do thinking about thinking a lot (thanks to my friends always quizzing me). For innovating, my stories now have a simpler and more original plot (which proves I’m improving). And lastly, I now speak more slowly when I get excited (I’ve been practising that one the most, but I could still improve on it a bit). So in total, I believe I have achieved my goals, though there’s always room for improvement.

Goals for Semester 2:

In literacy, I want to write different types of pieces more (I’m writing narratives to much). I feel if I explore all the different types of writing, I will improve on all of them and even find some I don’t know. In maths, I still get confused when multiplying 2 decimal numbers that have more than 2 whole digits. If I can improve on that, the maths I’ll see in the future will make more sense, and I’ll be more prepared for high school. Personally, I’d like to be more organised with my work.

In term 1, our class was learning about government. We learnt things like what was our country’s government, the three levels of government and what they do, what elements are in Australia’s federal parliament (things like equality before the law), how to make or change a law, knowing the roles and responsibilities of leaders in parliament and showing your understanding in school and community activities, and finding out the history of our parliament. That’s not all we learnt, but I just go into depth into those few categories we learnt about.

Our country’s government is a democracy, but also a constitutional monarchy. This means that we have a prime minister guiding the country, but also a king/ queen ruling over us as well. In this case, our queen is Queen Elizabeth II, who rules Australia and England! But she doesn’t live in Australia, which makes it hard for her to rule this country as well as England, that’s why she has a Governor General to represent her in parliament. The Governor General gets chosen by the queen herself, so you’re pretty lucky if you get the job! But more on the Governor General later, let’s talk about the democracy part of our government. Australia is a parliamentary democracy that means we get a say in what’s going on. That also means that the government is based on a system that is supreme! We have a House of Representatives, a Senate and The Queen/Governor General to make and change new laws so that Australia is run properly. As a democracy, we get to vote in who gets to be in parliament, and if you’re eligible, you can try to get in. The time where everyone tries to get into parliament is called an election. So Australia is a monarchy and a democracy, but what about the others ways of government, here they are:

Anarchy: Anarchy is where there is no one to rule the country, there’s no government. This means that everyone does their own thing, and there’s no rules. This can happen to a country if a war took place, or another country has invaded and their fighting to take control.

Communism: This system is how the government owns all business and farms, and then gives out the produced food to everybody equally.

Dictatorship- If a country was ruled like this, it would mean that a person is ruling the country and was not elected. This could happen by the person using force to become the leader for his/her country.

Republic- This is a country that is ruled with no monarch. This means that the head of the country is ruled by a prime minister, and they have to be elected in. So there would be no Queen or King, and no Governor General.

Totalitarian state- This country is ruled by one political party, and the people in the country are forced to do whatever the government says they have to do. This may make people want to leave the country, but the government can (and would) prevent them from leaving.

In the olden days, King John was England’s King. He was called “The worst king of England”, and there were many reasons why. He was always going to war with France (and losing!) and he kept taxing the rich people to pay for his armies! But one day, the barons (rich people) had enough, and they marched to the fields on Runnymede, London and they made him sign the Magna Carta (click on Magna Carta if you don’t understand what it means). And it worked for a while, but when King Charles the 1st came along, well he locked people up in jail if they didn’t pay their taxes. But one person realised he wasn’t going by the Magna Carta, and this person was Sir Edward Coke, a politician and an important English judge. After the news broke out, this event ended up leading to a war, and Charles the 1st death. Then came the Age of Enlightenment (which happened in the mid 1600’s). New thinkers arrived and the way countries were run started to change. There was one person who influenced everyone, and that was John Locke (1963 to 1704). This man came and argued for the rights of property, liberty and life about the government. People were only going to be governed as long as they still had their rights. Then came 1679, when the parliament of England made the Habeas Corpus. The Habeas Corpus is a contract stating how locking people up unfairly wasn’t going to happen unless their proven guilty in court. Then the parliament passed the English Bill Of Rights (1689), which lays out rules regarding the power of the monarchy and the rights for people. Some things in that bill were that the parliament was responsible for making the laws and setting taxes (not the king/queen), elections will happen on a regular basis and the bill would protect the following things:

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Assembly

Freedom to petition the government

The right to keep and bear arms.

As all of this was happening, the news of the Magna Carta was going around, and most countries liked that idea. The new (at the time) American colonies wanted some of the ideas in the Magna Carta to be in their laws, and they ended up combining those ideas with some of their own. But in 1765, King George III decided to tax 13 American colonies without their concern. That didn’t end well. The American colonies decided they didn’t like the British rule and wanted to overthrow the authority of Great Britain. This happened, and the United States of America was formed. They also formed their government with three main branches. The Congress, the President and the Courts.

Now, at the start of the 20th century (1901), the 6 colonies in Australia decided that we need a government for the whole country, and that where the federal parliament comes in. Some things the federal parliament established were the right to trial by jury, freedom of religion and the right to vote. But that wasn’t for everyone. Women weren’t allowed to vote (they were allowed to in 1902), immigrants weren’t allowed in Australia so they weren’t counted if they were their (that was fixed in 1947 and the government welcomed immigrates) and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were not recognised as Australia citizens and weren’t even counted in population (It changed after 1967 when a public referendum was held)!

In 1945, an international organisation with 51 countries in it (including Australia) was created. They are called the United Nations, and Australia played a big part in creating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration of rights includes everyone, so no one in the whole world is left out.

So, here are some the things we have today that we have worked so hard to get. And remember, never take these things for granted. We have: Freedom of speech, equality, right to vote (if you’re 18 or over), right to worship (any religion) and right to a fair trial (court). But there are still rights that aren’t protected for everyone. In some parts of the world, people are treated unfairly for their age, gender, sexuality, race, nationality, having a disability and for even being themselves!

That’s just one thing we have to work on for the future of our society. But for now, that’s all the important things that’s happened in the past that’s got to do with the government, and that sums up what I’ve learnt.

Were they good goals?

I believe the goals I gave myself were very good. This is because the other goals I were allowed to choose from I understood, and there’s not point finding out about something if you already know about it. They were also good goals because I cared and it was challenging but achievable. I think each goal I chose were looking at a different point of the government/ parliament, so I ended up looking at a variety of different things that had to do with the government. And that’s really good.

Did I achieve my goals?:

I have learnt so many things from term 1 about the government, and I’m sure I can explain my goals in a way to show you that I understand them and have achieved them. For example, my first goal is if I can describe the three levels of government and some of the key functions of each level. The three levels of government are: Federal, State and Local. Local takes care of things like parks, libraries, community services, signs etc. State takes care of things like schools, police, roads, hospitals, etc. While Federal takes care of things like immigration, war, defence, tax etc. Federal is the highest level of government, while Local is the lowest, and State is right in the middle.

The second goal was that I could explain the basic elements of Australia’s federal parliamentary system and key democratic principles and values such as freedom of speech and equality before the law. The basic elements of Australian Federal parliament is (in order from lowest to highest in ranking) 1. The House of Representatives, 2. The Senate, and 3. The Queen or Governor General (you can put the queen and senate together). Some key principles in parliament are (from the Magna Carta): you can own your own house/land (you couldn’t do that back in 1215) and that no one is above the law (not the president or even the king/queen). There are more, like the bill of rights and fair elections, but I won’t list them all.

The last goal is that I can demonstrate understanding of the roles and responsibilities of leaders, and of democratic processes, when engaging in school and community activities. I think I have achieved that well because I know all the roles and in parliament and I know the responsibilities each one has. Also, in class we acted out what goes on in parliament (half the class was labour, half was liberal) and we would get a role to play, as well as having to know the responsibilities that person has in parliament. And if you still don’t believe me, I can name some roles in parliament right now:

House of Representatives:

Government- the team with the majority of ministers.

Greens- A minor party (there is more than the greens) and they get to go on whichever team they like. And they don’t have to vote on what their team believes if they don’t believe it (but they normally do).

Independents- They get to vote for whatever feels right for them. They have no pressure in a decision they have to make.

The Opposition- against the Government, has lost the election.

Right now, the government is Liberal, and Labour is the opposition. Liberal is a coalition and Labour is a minority.

There was more evidence to if I know the roles and responsibilities of parliament, but if you still don’t think I know it that well, I can tell you how the roles and responsibilities in parliament for passing a bill! Here they are:

The House of Representatives:

The Cabinet- The prime minister and other important ministers get ideas for a new law.

1st Reading- The clerk reads out the bill for the first time.

Ministers Speech- The minister states the reasoning’s he believes for the bill.

Adjournment- Parties get time to think whether they will vote for the bill, or against it.

Committee- Experts from the public gather information on the bill, and see what everyone is thinking of it in the media (this only happens if they don’t have that much evidence from the community’s).

2nd Reading Debate- The government, opposition, minor parties and independents state their opinion on the bill (including whether they vote for or against) and they vote whether the bill goes on to the 2nd

2nd Reading- The clerk reads out the bill for the second time.

Consideration in detail- Members of parliament see whether they can improve the bill or give it any amendments.

3rd Reading- The clerk reads out the improved bill for the 1st

Transfer to Senate- the Sergeant at Arms takes the bill to the senate.

Senate:

1st Reading- The clerk reads out the bill for first time in the senate.

Committee- Experts from the public gather information on the bill, and see what everyone is thinking of it in the media (it’s pretty much how the committee goes in the House of Representatives).

2nd Reading Debate- Ministers argue over the bill and vote whether it should go onto the 2nd

2nd Reading- The clerk reads out the bill for the 2nd

Community of Whole- the House of Representatives and the Senate gather evidence to see whether the bill is in good enough state or the Governor General.

3rd Reading- The clerk reads out the bill for the last time.

Governor General- He/she chooses whether to make it an act of parliament or not. If they do, the act of parliament later becomes a law (They almost always say yes to it).

So I believe that I have achieved this goal very well, and I have given my evidence to satisfy you.

Today I’m going to be talking to you about water and what would happen if there wasn’t any in our body.

Water is a transparent liquid that creates seas, lakes, rivers and rain. It also is our base liquid that we drink, and without it we can’t survive. It’s everywhere, and it’s even inside our body!

An average human has around 55 to 60 % water in their body. This is depending on things like the location they live in, your gender, your fat index and how old you are.

Some parts of your body that are made up of water are your human bones (31%), your heart and liver (an adults ¾ ‘s full of water) and your lungs (83%).

Cue Card 2:

The water in our body needs to be there, without it we’d fall apart. Literally, the water in our body helps cushions our joints, so they work together to move. If there wasn’t any water there, we wouldn’t be able to move any of our joints and we wouldn’t be able to do anything at all. Which means we can’t get any food or water. We can last without food for 3 weeks, but we can only live without water for 3 days. So, if we didn’t have water in our joints, we wouldn’t be able to stand up, or even move for that matter.

The water in our body also helps our temperature, which relates to how much we need to drink. We lose approximately 2 to 3 litres of water a day from our sweat, urine and even breathing! So, to survive we need to re-drink the water we’ve lost, and more. But we also have to keep it balanced, so we don’t dehydrate, or over-hydrate

The last thing water does for our body is nourishes the brain and spinal cord. This is the main reason why we have to be so careful with drinking too much. If we don’t drink enough water, the brain has a harder time accomplishing things as well as a fully functioning one, which makes the brain temporarily shrink (because of its lack of water). If we have too much water in a short period of time (which is called hyponatremia), it makes your cells swell up and in extreme cases, your liver can’t keep up with the producing liquid. This can produce a headache, some vomiting, a siege and, in extreme cases, even death.

Cue card 3:

So, if we didn’t have water in our body our life would be pretty different, and pretty short. What would happen is:

Our joints wouldn’t work and we couldn’t move anywhere.

Our temperature would rise and we couldn’t re-drink the water we lose every day.

Our brain would shrink or our cells would swell up. Also our lungs might not be able to cope with all the water rushing in.

So, it’s pretty important that we have water in our body and we drink the right amount of water each day. Thank you for listening to my speech.

Some difficulties I faced while preparing this speech was double checking my facts and using other recourses. I had found a great website with loads of facts, but when it came to double checking them, there wasn’t any other websites with approximately the same answer. For example, some facts I found have an average answer (the human body has approximately 55 to 60% water inside it). Also, there was a fantastic site with all the information in it (http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-would-happen-if-you-didn-t-drink-water-mia-nacamulli), but the rest of the sites I looked at didn’t have facts I needed. They basically restated most of the facts I’d already had, so they were more or less more useful to me when I used them for double checking. And they also had facts on there that were irrelevant (body composition) so I didn’t need those websites to help me find my information. So in conclusion, double checking my work and finding other recourses was a difficulty I faced when preparing my speech.

Some strong points in my speech were how much I had practised. I had practiced very hard and I think it payed off, because I was less nervous than I would off been (if I didn’t practice), and I was more confident when executing the speech. Which brings me to how well I think my eye contact was when I presented my presentation. I knew cue card 1 and cue card 3 off by heart, and I only looked at my 2nd cue card a few times. I have been working on this technique for a long time and I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. The last thing I believe I did well in my speech was presenting my facts. I didn’t have a prop (maybe I could have one if I did another prepared speech) but I feel that the structure of my speech made my facts clearer to comprehend (easier to understand). This is also another strategy I have been working on (since there’s no point in saying a speech that no one understands/ learns from). If I looked back on my speech, I believe the best things I did in my speech were how much I‘d practiced, how much I’d used eye contact and the structure of my speech (in the way of showing my facts).

Some work habits I could change to achieve higher results for next time are using more relatable examples. Last year I had more examples that people could relate to, as this year I focused on other things. I believe if I had used some more relatable examples, the students in my class would have been more interested/engaged. Which brings me to my next work habit being making my speech more engaging. Another thing I looked at last year was using props, as this year I didn’t believe (in the research I had looked at) that there was anything that needed to have a prop/s to be understood. But if I’d used more techniques like using more emphasis and stopping and pausing at the important parts, the speech would have been better. The last work habit I could improve on for next time is trying to fit information that could make a difference. For example, there was a fact on how much water is in a baby (75%) but I couldn’t fit it into the speech. So, some work habits I’d work on are using more relatable examples, making my speech more engaging and trying to fit in more information that could make a difference.

Some other subjects I could use the skills of speaking and listening in are:

Debates (debating is all about speaking but also about listening to others points)

Speeches (were doing some impromptu later this year so I can practice using these skills then)

Projects (presentations)

Creating a science experiment (speaking/collaborating with your partner and listening to what they have to say)

And there is also little things to help you use these skills more often like sharing your knowledge about a topic in front of the class.

5 Things I/the class did well were we had great eye contact, we all had clear voices, our speeches were clear to understand/easy to understand the message being said, everyone spoke loudly/had emphasis and lastly, people researched their topic really well. Most of the kids in my class knew a bit of their speech off by heart and they didn’t read off their cue cards a lot (which is really impressive). Nearly all of the kids in my class had a very clear voice, and you could understand the facts better than the other speeches that didn’t have a clear voice. Which brings me to how a lot of people made their speeches clear to understand and easy to identify the message being said. I think a lot of people remembered to do this because your speech has to have a message, and if the message isn’t clear, then there’s no point (luckily everyone who focused on this did a great job). Everyone spoke loudly and used emphasis at the right times, which made the speeches even better. And lastly, everyone had researched their topic really well, and everyone was really passionate (which was awesome to see).

3 things to avoid when public speaking are swaying side to side, mumbling up your words and making the end of your sentences go up higher to make it sound like you’re asking a question. These three things I find are the most common public speaking difficulties that kids have (besides rushing your speech). If you find that your swaying side to side, something you could do is plant yourself firmly onto the ground before you start. When you feel as if you’re stable and won’t start wobbling, then start your speech. If you’ve noticed about yourself that when you do public speaking you mumble some of your words, find the part that’s tripping you up and practice that part so then it starts to transition. And lastly, if you know that you have a habit when it comes to making the end of your sentences go up higher to make it sound like a question, then the cure is to be confident in your answer. If you’ve got a fact in your speech that was well researched and you know is right, then don’t think that it’s wrong. If you haven’t double check your facts, do that first before saying it in your speech confidently.

3 personal goals for when I next present are:

To use more expression, emphasis and tone when presenting a speech.

To make sure (when presenting the speech) to pronounce words fully before going into the next sentence.

When I get my topic, read it carefully and look into all the perspectives it has (and explain them).

I think this goal is the one I have worked on the most because I think I have achieved it better than my other goals. I can now create stories that are more imaginative and creative in my narratives, which I didn’t quite do before (only writing one genre). I have been trying to look at different perspectives in my writing to show I’m being more creative, and I can prove that in my 100wc’s. Each week, I’ve tried to add another genre besides mystery. Most of my 100wc used to always be mystery, but now there’s the genre of jealousy, imagination, humour, awareness, sadness, humour + mystery, beautiful compared to ugliness, good compared to bad and different perspectives on the way. I feel as if I have achieved that goal pretty well, but I can always improve. For example, I still find it difficult to innovate better in a non-fiction piece. I could work on that as well as others genres of writing, like persuasive texts and instructions.

My Second Goal: Thinking about Thinking

I know I have improved on this goal, but I haven’t improved on it as much as I have improved on my 1st goal. Something I have improved on is this: When I try to solve and answer, I can think about thinking and explain to someone how I solved it, and that I can do that better than I used to. I can prove this by checking my reflections from each class and seeing whether it’s more in-depth and easier to explain to someone (and I’ve noticed that its more easier to write the reflections and I can explain what’s going on to someone easily). I still think I can improve on thinking about thinking because sometimes I think of an answer, double check it and then keep on going, and later I forget how I came to the answer. A way to improve on that is to stop and think of whether I know how I did it, and if I can remember to do it later. If I can’t, I should try another way to get the/an answer. If I can remember how I did it, I would quickly explain it to myself to see if it’s a good enough explanation (good enough, so someone else can use that method to help them with their problem). So I can still improve on this goal a bit, but there’s parts of that goal that I have accomplished this year, really well.

How I learn and behave goal: Slowing down my words when I get excited

This goal is one of the biggest problems for me, especially when finding something out and wanting to explain it to someone as quickly as possible. But I have worked on it and I’m getting better at speaking slower. In this goal I have achieved a part of it, I speak slower so I don’t get my words muddles up and forget what I was saying. It was a bit hard to break this habit, but once done, it got easier. I can prove this by my second goal, thinking about thinking. I stop and think about what I’m going to say, then think about that thinking, whether to makes sense or not. Then I say it, as you know from that paragraph before, I have achieved that part of my second goal really well. What I could improve on, in this goal, is slowing down my words. They are slower than they used to be, but they’re still a bit faster than when I normally speak. You can understand what I’m saying, but I want people to understand it as well as they normally do (which is pretty understandable) 😉 . How I can improve on that, is by stoping and waiting till I have the right pace for others to follow. That way, people will understand the message I’m trying to tell them. So, in total, I have completed half of my goal. One half I have accomplished really well, the other I have to work on. But I have the rest of the year to work on it, so I believe in the time frame I have been given, I have been achieving this goal pretty well.

Some things I would like to learn/get better at are:

I would like to get better at/learn more about metacognition. We haven’t gone that much in-depth into it, but I can still go home and do research on it. I found out (the hard way) that metacognition is A LOT harder to do, rather than say. You have to be thinking all the time about what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. It may sound simple, but trust me, it’s not. For example, if you’re riding your bike, metacognition isn’t thinking like this: the peddles go around to make the chains pull the wheels to go forward. It’s much more complicated, and you have to know the in depths of riding a bike (which you might not even know)! So there’s a lot of improving I have to do, and a lot more research, but I’ll get there in the end!

Something I would also like to get better at were perimeter, area, capacity and mass. We have learnt a bit about perimeter and area, and we are still learning more in class. We haven’t really looked at capacity or mass, but it has come up in conversations when my class is doing maths. I feel as if I needed a bit of revision for perimeter and area, then I was good to go (which happened to be the case). I still need to work on mass, and I could always improve on capacity a bit. But I know the formula to finding out the area of a rectangle and triangle: length x width (rectangle) and base x height (triangle). Also I know how to find the perimeter of a rectangle and triangle: length + width (rectangle) and base + side + side (triangle). So I feel as if I still have a few things to learn, but I’m going pretty well in achieving this goal by knowing the formulas to area and perimeter.

Thanks for reading my goals (and reflection that went with it) for this year. I put a lot of hard work into it, I hope you learnt something or at least enjoyed it :).

In term 1 we were studying how governments are created and how they create rules and laws for our country/community. We also learnt about the history of the government and all the parties in it as well. Here are my goals from last term about what I wanted to learn about government.

Civic knowledge and understanding

• describe the three levels of government and some of the key functions of each level
• explain the basic elements of Australia’s federal parliamentary system and key democratic principles and values such as freedom of speech and equality before the law

Community engagement

• demonstrate understanding of the roles and responsibilities of leaders, and of democratic processes, when engaging in school and community activities

demonstrate understanding that there are different viewpoints on an issue, and contribute to group and class decision making.